Bella's little helpers
by Anissa0012
Summary: More members of the Cullen clan go out of their way to reach out to their newest sister.


**A/N:** **After** ** _Looking out_** **received so much positive feedback, I decided to explore what sort of "help" other members of the Cullen clan were offering Bella.** **Our poor heroine doesn't know what hit her.**

 **Disclaimer:** **I do not own Twilight or any of its characters**.

Rosalie, concerned with Bella's absolute ignorance on how her car worked, graciously offered to teach her soon-to-be sister the basics of car maintenance.

"Open the hood," Rosalie gestured toward the ancient Chevy gracefully, firmly reminding herself to be patient.

"That's the front part, right?"

Rosalie rolled her eyes, but kept her voice sweet. "Yes, pop it."

"Uhhh…"

"For heaven's sake, Bella!" Before Bella even realized her door was open, Rosalie was standing by her side, imperiously pointing to hood clutch. Her patience was thinning.

"Pull that and come here," Rosalie ordered. Bella swallowed and wondered where Emmett was. Or anyone, really.

"O-okay." Bella firmed up her resolve. This was Rosalie's way of bonding. Bella gazed up at the beauty who was again frowning down at her. Quickly she gave a little tug on the never-before-noticed clutch. Nothing happened. Rosalie's expression darkened. In a panic, Bella jerked the handle back with all her might, and was rewarded with a dull clank as the hood disengaged. She smiled dopily in triumph as Rosalie snorted, raised her eyes to the heavens, and dragged Bella to stand in front of the now-exposed engine.

"Pay attention." Rosalie began lecturing on the most likely parts under the hood that Bella might have to deal with on her own. "But please God don't touch _anything_ else! With your luck, you'll disengage the brakes and drive off a cliff! Now, where's the oil cap?"

An hour later, a dazed and shaking Bella hurried out of the garage, leaving Rosalie muttering and huffing to herself. Rose had made Bella repeat her instructions on how to change the oil and the windshield wiper fluid at least ten times, until she could perform the simple tasks to the gorgeous vampire's satisfaction. Rosalie was ready to launch into the joys of changing a battery when Alice summoned the shell-shocked human. Saved by the bell! Bella thought gratefully. "We'll continue this discussion later," Rose threatened as Bella scurried away, imaginary tail tucked between her legs.

"So, I saw you covered in grease," Alice paused to frown at Bella's begrimed palms and shirt front, "and I saw Rose smoldering, so I decided it was time to clean you up and have some fun!"

Bella shuddered. Fun. Oh, man.

Moments later, Bella realized she had jumped the gun on what to fear.

Being very careful not to come into contact with the fruits of Bella's automobile maintenance lesson, Alice scooped the human up and whisked her to the palatial bathroom adjoining Alice's and Jasper's bedroom.

"Alice! I can walk!" Bella protested, to no avail, as usual.

"No, you'll stumble and get grease everywhere. Besides, we're here." Suddenly Bella was standing unsteadily where the pixie had plopped her. Steam was already rising from the enormous tub.

"Here, off with that." Bella yipped as Alice made short work of removing her top, throwing the offending article into the trashcan.

"Hey!" Bella started, but she cut herself off as Alice menacingly reached for the button to her jeans. "Alright, alright!" Slightly embarrassed, but remembering the impatience of this smaller sister when she had to help Bella shower after Bella had broken her leg, the human girl divested herself of her clothes and hopped into the bubble-filled tub.

She nearly shot out again as soon as she hit the frigid water. "Alice! This water's freezing!"

The small vampire blinked and shrugged. "It's 75 degrees Fahrenheit, Bella. I didn't want to scald you."

Bella squawked as Alice's cold hand dove into the water, released the plug and turned on the hot tap. "Tell me when it's comfortable," she ordered.

"Alice, I know how to take a bath, for crying out loud!"

The pixie just gave her a skeptical look. At Bella's glare, Alice let out a small huff and said, "Fine! I'll be waiting right outside the door, so don't try to escape. Oh, and here's a robe," she added as she put Bella's perfectly clean jeans in the trash on top of the ruined shirt. Bella growled.

=OoOoO=

"I couldn't decide which dress would work better, the linen or the gabardine, so I bought both."

Bella looked on, her eyes glazing over, as Alice showed her outfit after outfit the pixy had "seen" that Bella would need after her lesson with Rosalie. "Didn't you get any jeans or t-shirts?" she asked her sister without much hope. Alice snorted delicately and moved onto the silk blouses and linen slacks.

"Excuse me," a deep southern drawl interrupted, and Bella spun toward the door with hope in her eyes.

"Ah!" Jasper exclaimed, turning his back instantly. "Excuse me!" he repeated and the room was filled with chagrin. Bella fought to contain the embarrassment that hit her out of nowhere. Alice giggled.

"It's alright, Jazzy. She's got a robe on, and she's perfectly decent." Bella rolled her eyes. Not by 1850's standards. She took the opportunity to arbitrarily grab a pair of slacks and a blouse, throwing them on over her underwear that Alice had magnanimously allowed her to keep. She threw the borrowed robe onto the back of a chair.

"'Kay, Jasper, you can turn around now." Bella ignored Alice as she muttered about Bella's lack of color-sense while she went about folding her purchases.

"Ahem. Uh, well, uh, I was wondering, Bella, if you'd like to…" Jasper began.

"Yes!" Bella seized the chance to get out of her tiny sister's clutches.

"But you haven't even heard what I am proposing…" Jasper grinned, his gift telling him more about Bella's eagerness to get away than she probably was aware of herself. He and Alice exchanged a look that seemed to communicate volumes.

"Uh, that's ok, Jasper, I'm up for anything, really," Bella assured her brother. At this point she'd even play a video game with Emmett to avoid becoming Barbie-doll Bella. Alice suddenly let out a peal of bell-chimes laughter and shooed them away.

=OoOoO=

"Hit the x-button, Bella! Quickly!" Jasper murmured in her ear while Emmett loudly protested. Bella had never been much for video games before, but all of a sudden, she was gung-ho, absolutely determined to beat her bearish brother.

"Ha! Gotcha!" Bella all but shrieked as her car passed Emmett's, forcing his into the barricade and impeding his progress until he managed to extricate himself. Emmett snarled. Jasper looked smug. Bella normally would have shuddered at the feral noise, but she was simply filled with confidence. As her car passed the finish line a length in front of Emmett's, she let out an enormous whoop, threw down the controller and jumped atop the coffee table with her joined fists raised in victory.

The room had filled during her uncharacteristically loud and boisterous cheers. Her family, with the exception of one small fortune-teller and one tall Southern empath, were astounded at this final display. There was a brief period of absolute silence. Bella looked around the room at the stock-still vampires, then down at the coffee table she was still standing on, then back at Emmett, who for once was speechless. She flushed and very carefully climbed down from the 12-inch height.

"Jazz!" Edward scolded in exasperation.

The Southerner shrugged with a smirk. "What? I thought she could let loose for once in her life."


End file.
